Jack Fenton
Jack Fenton is a character in the Danny Phantom series. He is the husband of Maddie Fenton and father of Danny and Jazz Fenton. Beginnings and ancestry His past life before his college days is unknown, although he stated in the first episode he was born in a log cabin. He had always wanted a pony, but was discouraged from this because he and his family had to eat horsemeat during the war. Whether this is true or not is up for debate, considering that he does love to ramble. He has an ancestor named John Fenton-Nightengale who lived during the time of the Salem Witch Trials, who shared his looks and obsessiveness (towards witches instead of ghosts), indicating that contact with the paranormal seems to run in his family. College and relationship with Vlad Masters During his college days at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he and Vlad Masters were once best friends (something he still believes in the current present), along with Maddie. Both Vlad and Jack were secretly in love with Maddie as well. In college, they studied science, and were interested in the paranormal. The three of them even built a smaller, early-version of the Fenton Portal during this time, which they called the proto-portal. However, as they went to test it, Jack had accidentally spilled diet soda inside the Ecto-Filtrator, which caused the device to backfire, and ectoplasmic energy exploded out of it right into Vlad, who was standing next to it. Due to this, Vlad came down with a horrible case of 'ecto-acne' from which he apparently suffered for a long time in a hospital. This damaged their friendship for the next 20 years. In the episode, "Bitter Reunions" Jack and Vlad are reunited during a college reunion hosted by Vlad (who has apparently become a billionaire over the years) in his castle. Vlad says that he is willing to forget the past, and Jack believes that they are on good terms again. In reality, Vlad still wants Jack dead, and never forgave him for marrying Maddie (the love of his life) and having a happy family with her. In "Maternal Instinct", it was revealed that Jack's tremendous girth is genetic. In the episode "Masters Of All Time", in an alternate reality, Jack was the one in which the lab accident 20 years ago happened to. Jack had gotten the ecto-acne, which transformed him into "Jack Plasmius." This accident happened because Danny had gone back in time to try to prevent the accident from happening so that Vlad would not have become Plasmius). Also in this timeline, Vlad is married to Maddie. In "Phantom Planet", the show's finale, Vlad reveals his identity as a ghost to the entire city. Shocked, Jack confronts Vlad with sympathy, but Vlad coldly shrugs him off. In the climax, Vlad is trapped in outer space near fatal ectoplasmic energy fields which surround him. Begging Jack to let him board his ship, and stating that he would not abandon an old friend, Jack replies with a mixture of anger and sadness "An old friend? Yes. You? No." he tragically shrugs him off and heads off to Earth, leaving Vlad to fend for himself. After learning Danny's true identity as the Ghost Boy, he offered to team up with his son, making Danny his 'sidekick.' Relationship with Maddie and Danny Compared to keeping his dad out of trouble, fighting ghosts and surviving high school are practically a piece of cake for Danny as his father tends to be clumsy and incompetent in behavior. Despite Jack's oafish nature, he appears to be an accomplished inventor. Jack is often the one who builds most of the gadgets and equipment(and then gives them silly names) that are seen in Danny's house and the lab. However, he seems to have trouble using these gadgets while other characters such as Danny or Maddie (and sometimes Jazz) have no trouble at all. He is not above teaching his kids how to use them (every chance he gets) and is quick to run off to wherever a ghost is, which has led to a few embarrassing situations for both of his two children. One humorous note is that Jack, unlike his wife, firmly believes in Santa Claus as revealed in "The Fright Before Christmas". He and Maddie have been arguing over Santa Claus's existence for the last 14 years at least, which directly leads to Danny's dislike of Christmas. Both Jack and Maddie have learned on four separate occasions that their son is part ghost (the first time was when Dark Danny revealed his secret, the second was during an alternate timeline as Jack Plasmius, the third was when Freakshow was after the reality gems), and the fourth was at the end of "Phantom Planet". On every occasion but the last, their memories were erased. Regardless, while at first the idea bothers him, like Maddie he comes to accept it readily out of love for his son during one brief moment during the events of "Reality Trip". Personality Jack is an adequate fighter with great strength (due primarily to his prodigious size) and courage as well as a good amount of technical knowledge, but can often be clumsy and incompetent. However, he has a maturity and seriousness that few people recognize. Despite his constant obsession with ghosts, he loves and protects his family. Jack is determined to prove the existence of ghosts but is completely unaware that his son is one. He also is often far too brave for his own good, as he is obsessed with ghost-hunting. He always has a ghost weapon on him (even when he isn't supposed to) (The Fenton Menace), or while bathing (Reality Trip). Geared up in his dayglow-orange spandex jumpsuit, (and he apparently breaks out in a rash if he wears anything else, as shown in The Fenton Menace,) Jack always jumps into the action before thinking and usually makes a bad situation even worse. He has a level of genius though, able to conjure up working ghost gadgets and a massive ghost-defense system built all around the Fenton household. When it comes to ghosts, nothing else can stop him from trying to catch one and rip it apart "molecule by molecule" (except maybe his weakness for fudge... lots and lots of fudge). This is the main reason why his son has yet to tell his parents about his human/ghost hybrid status, as he believes they will not accept him. It also doesn't help that Jack is gunning for Danny Phantom more than any other ghost, though he has grudgingly accepted help from him before, namely to fight Plasmius (whom he calls the "Wisconsin Ghost"). Unlike most characters in the show, he can tell when he's been overshadowed, but it seems only when it's a malevolent force controlling him (for instance, Vlad), and not someone like Danny. Apparently, such ability only works when the overshadower forces him to do something against his will. In "Eye for an Eye", Vlad "forces" Jack to vote for him, which Jack already intended to do anyway. Jack is revealed to be very competent while fighting ghosts who put his family in danger. This occurred at least three times: first in "The Million Dollar Ghost", when a single-handed Jack beats Plasmius and his ghost vultures to save the Fenton Portal from exploding; second in "Reign Storm", when he used the unfinished Fenton Exoskeleton to defeat the Fright Knight and save Maddie, and third in "Girls' Night Out", when he "saves" Danny Fenton from Skulker. External Links Category:Characters